Del Oro boys drop two in So Cal tourney

The Del Oro High boys basketball team felt the excitement of a near victory against a good team, a deflating loss and then a resounding victory over the course of three days.
The Golden Eagles went 1-2 at the National Prep Classic in Santa Maria in a four-day tournament that ended Friday and are gearing up for another tourney that starts today.
They opened Wednesday with a 51-44 loss to eventual third-place finisher Westchester (Los Angeles), which was the eighth-ranked team in Cal-Hi Sports’ preseason poll before dropping out of the poll this week.
“After that game, we felt good,” Del Oro coach Geoff Broyles said. “We felt like we had played, defensively, very well. A couple shots can make a difference in a game like that.
“I think it showed our kids when we do what we do and we come focused and ready to play that we can play with anybody.”
Rex Hime led Del Oro in scoring with 12 points followed by Alan Kidwell’s 11 and Austin Soldano’s 10.
Del Oro fell flat against St. Bernard (Los Angeles) in a 69-42 drubbing. The Eagles traveled to Santa Maria the day before Broyles attributed some of the loss to travel fatigue.
“We didn’t shoot it very well and they shot the ball pretty well,” Broyles said. “They had a couple big kids who were pretty good and a guard who was real good. It was just a difficult matchup for us athletically.”
Nick Lewis led Del Oro with 14 points followed by Soldano with eight.
Del Oro didn’t have plans to return to Loomis without at least one win and grabbed a much-needed 58-42 victory on the final day of the tournament against Hawthorne (Los Angeles). Trevor Pistochini led the team with 16 points, Lewis had 10 and Kidwell finished with nine.
The Golden Eagles took a couple of days off for the holidays but are now preparing for the Whitney Christmas Classic tournament, which starts today at Whitney High. Del Oro faces Hoover (Fresno) at 5 p.m.
Injuries have plagued Del Oro to start the season but Jordan Broyles, who missed the National Prep Classic with a back injury, and Taylor Butterfield (knee) may make it back for the Whitney tournament.
“The next few weeks before league gets started is going to be critical to make sure that we get everybody on the same game page and start getting people comfortable with what we’re doing,” Broyles said. “And hopefully we can get that accomplished in the next couple weeks.”